What do you think? It's important.

Having recently read sections of "Personal Influence" by Paul Lazarsfeld and Elihu Katz for a class, I was drawn to the article in The Economist titled "Word of Mouse", which applied the ideas of Lazarsfeld and Katz to the changing world of advertising on the Internet.

With Facebook Connect, advertising has changed and is in the hands of the people. No longer does the company solely control their image, but with social networks, you can shares with your network what products/services you like or don't like. If you share with your friends on Facebook that the shirt you just bought from Urban Outfitters is awesome and really warm, they see that you think positively of that product and they will have a positive view of that. You can express your displeasure with the service at your local gas station online, and everyone on your network will know about it.

With Yelp, reviews are in the hands of the people and if you are looking for what people are saying about the barber or restaurant you are thinking about going to, you can look up what they say online, and a community of reviewers can talk back to you.